Service Delivery

Project Management and Consulting Services. Additional information on CA-PMO services is available in the tabs below.

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Resources and Tools

Best practice-based frameworks, templates, and tools are available on the Project Resources page.

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Training and Education

Courses related to and in support of an Information Technology Project Management are available on the Project Training page.

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Project Forums

Educational events designed to share project management best practices and lessons learned with practitioners statewide. Additional information is available on the Project Forums page.

To reach the CA-PMO or discuss any of our services, contact us at (916) 873-7281 or by email at pmo@state.ca.gov. We offer a free consultation meeting to discuss your project and identify how we can assist you.

The CA-PMO team is comprised of experienced and knowledgeable professionals who provide expert guidance in project management. The scope of services provided depends on customer needs and may include point-in-time project consulting to full on-site project management. The team works with customers to determine project needs at the planning and development stages.

These services include full time resources dedicated for the duration of the project and are classified as either:

Full Engagement – CA–PMO will provide a project team to work in partnership with the department for project sponsorship, subject matter experts, and program knowledge. The dedicated team will consist of experienced and knowledgeable project management staff to fully manage and support a project to completion.

The Consulting team provides assistance for projects experiencing challenges, by offering intensive consulting services aimed at restoring project equilibrium, and minimizing and mitigating risks hampering project success. Our staff is knowledgeable and experienced in California’s enterprise-wide issues, as well as industry best practices, and can provide hands-on assistance, education, and mentorship to IT project teams.

The consulting team is composed of State IT professionals charged with partnering with you to resolve some of the most intricate challenges found in projects. While proactive problem avoidance is the goal, our consultants are also tasked to identify and implement best-option solutions to issues with ongoing projects as they arise.

Consultant team members are provided on a temporary basis (assigned hourly or monthly), to assist projects experiencing challenges or resource shortfalls.

Service Areas

Our consulting staff members assist with ongoing projects to resolve some of the most intricate challenges, particularly in the areas of:

Requirements Management

Requirements management is the process of documenting, analyzing, tracing, prioritizing and agreeing on requirements and then controlling change and communicating to relevant stakeholders. It is a continuous process throughout a project. The consulting team will assist you with:

Developing a Requirements Management Plan before system integration contract award.

Developing requirements prior to the issuance of your procurement documents.

Providing assistance in managing and tracking requirements throughout the acquisition and development life cycle to help ensure that all requirements have been identified, delivered, tested, and accepted and that all requirement changes, which always occur, have been accounted for and are traceable.

Defining and configuring tools used to trace requirements.

Reviewing and providing recommendations on the actual execution of the requirements management process.

Governance

Effective governance (decision-making structure) is an essential foundation for project success. Establishing and sustaining effective governance throughout the project lifecycle will result in effective and timely decision making by focusing on structure, people, and information through the application of core governance principles. The consulting team will assist with:

Developing a Governance Management Plan.

Governance planning, design, and implementation from project initiation through implementation.

Assessing governance effectiveness and efficiency.

Understanding the relationship between governance, managing risks, and project success.

Coaching Project Sponsors to effectively carry out their responsibilities.

Schedule Management

The purpose of Schedule Management is to know where the project is against the projections and how changes effect the delivery time. It is critically important to develop and update the schedule regularly to determine how the project is progressing. The consulting team will assist with:

Developing a Schedule Management Plan.

Developing an integrated project schedule that includes dependencies (which yields the critical path) along with resource loading which will inform the Project Manager if there are sufficient staff on the project.

Developing the project baseline schedule.

Identifying schedule inputs to the level of detail defined in the Master Project Plan.

Contract Management

Whether developing the procurement document or administrating the successful execution of the contract, understanding contract development and vendor management are key elements to ensuring a successful project. The consulting team will assist with:

Developing a Contract Management Plan that includes administering the contract.

Developing procurement documents with appropriate terms and conditions and rights and remedies for the State.

Ensuring the management of the contract tracks State and System Integrator responsibilities (as well as payable deliverables) so that all contractual obligations are met in a timely fashion.

Quality Management

Quality Assurance ensures a process is developed to review deliverables against expectations before they are submitted so the deliverable meets expectations. Quality Control assesses project deliverables to ensure they map to the defined quality standards and variance thresholds. The consulting team will assist with:

Developing a Quality Management Plan that includes quality assurance and control standards and metrics.

Risk and Issue Management

Risk and issue management practices involving deliberate steps in risk planning, identification, analysis, and response must be implemented during all phases of the system development life-cycle. The consulting team will assist with:

Data Management

Since data is a critical business asset, it is the lifeblood of every organization. Establishing and maintaining data integrity and quality throughout the project lifecycle is essential. The consulting team will assist with:

Developing a Data Conversion/Migration Plan.

Implementing an effective Data Cleansing Strategy which encompasses the process of examining legacy data and detecting and correcting corrupt or inaccurate data. To ensure legacy data is ready for conversion, it is best to complete data cleansing prior to the contract award of your system integration vendor.

Establishing a practical and effective methodology for converting and migrating data from legacy systems to the new system, and validating and certifying that all data needed by the new system is converted accurately and consumable by the new system.

Test Management

Early detection and removal of defects in the development lifecycle is critical to the success of an IT project and can be accomplished through well-planned testing strategies. The consulting team will assist with:

Establishing a systematic approach for developing, managing, and implementing test activities across the development lifecycle.

Business test preparation such as user acceptance testing and system testing.

Developing test cases and test scripts.

Organizational Change Management

Best practice indicates that successful management of organizational change depends on a structured approach to planning and managing the effects of an IT project on the people of the organization. The consulting team will assist with:

Developing an Organizational Change Management Plan.

Assessing the strategy and scope of the organizational change effort.

Identifying and assessing early planning, strategy, communication, and adoption.

Implementation Management

Planning for project success is critical to successful project execution. Determining whether the ‘big bang’ or a phased roll-out works best for the new system is key to the project plan. The consulting team will assist with:

Developing an Implementation Plan.

Identifying activities that must be included in your project plan to reflect the approach.

Training staff to understand how the roll-out approach impacts communication, change management, site readiness and other facets of your project.

Monitoring system rollout and certification.

Interface Management

Early identification of interfaces will help ensure free flow of data and function between the new solution and partner agencies. There are ramifications to all facets of the project without knowing how many interfaces will be developed. The consulting team will assist with:

Developing an Interface Management Plan.

Ensuring that the interface matrix and plan includes all the parties’ scope definitions and acceptance criteria.

This collection of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) has been compiled in order to assist departments navigating the CA-PMO engagement process. Leverage these FAQs as a starting point for your questions about our services and approach. Then, call or email us at: (916) 873-7281 or pmo@state.ca.gov if you have additional questions.

Who do I contact to learn more about California Project Management Office (CA-PMO) services?

Please contact the CA-PMO at (916) 873-7281 or pmo@state.ca.gov. We offer a free consultation meeting to discuss your project and will let you know whether we have experts who can help.

Does the CA-PMO have any control agency authority?

No, the CA-PMO does not have control agency authority. The CA-PMO’s role is similar to a private sector consultant that serves the best interest of the department that hires them. More broadly, the CA-PMO provides centralized project management of projects and initiatives, so that strategic benefits are realized through standardized frameworks, education, training, tools, and techniques based on proven best practices and lessons learned.

What are the different ways that the CA-PMO can be engaged by a department?

The CA-PMO supports the following service delivery models:

Project Management Services – Full time resources dedicated for the duration of the project.

Full Engagement – CA–PMO will provide a project team to work in partnership with the department for project sponsorship, subject matter experts, and program knowledge. The dedicated team will consist of experienced and knowledgeable project management staff to fully manage and support a project to completion.

Balanced Engagement – CA–PMO will provide key project resources to augment a department’s existing team. Provides experienced and knowledgeable staff with specific skills and expertise needed to augment existing project teams. This may include a single Project Manager and/or other project professionals.

Consulting Services – Expert consultants are provided on a temporary basis, to assist projects experiencing challenges or resource shortfalls. Consultants are State staff, and are assigned hourly or monthly.

Who decides which engagement model (e.g., Full or Balanced Project Management Services vs. Consulting Services?) will be used?

The engagement model selected is a joint decision between the department and the CA-PMO. Specifically, the department chooses the model that seems to best fit their project need and communicates their choice to the CA-PMO in the initial meeting. Then, as part of finalizing the Engagement Plan, the CA-PMO and department collaborate to ensure the most appropriate engagement model is selected. To assist with this decision, the CA-PMO conducts a boots-on-the-ground survey of the project or initiative.

What criteria is used to select an engagement model?

At a high-level, the following criteria is used to select an engagement model:

Project Criteria

Scope

Complexity

Criticality

Governance

Duration

Cost

Statewide Impact

Organizational Readiness

Organizational Capacity

Organizational Capability

What staff classifications are used by the CA-PMO for client department projects? How are the classifications determined?

The CA-PMO provides resources from a range of classifications for project management and project support. The classification selected is based on a number of factors, including size, scope, and complexity of the work to be done. In general, assigned resources are from the following classification series: Data Processing Manager, Project Manager (IT), Information Systems Analyst, and Systems Software Specialist.

Can a department engage the CA-PMO for a specific, short-term resource, for example a project scheduler for a temporary or part-time basis?

The CA-PMO is committed to assist departments in identifying and meeting their project resource needs. For specific, short-term resource requirements, the CA-PMO will work with the department to best meet their specific needs.

Do the project resources from the CA-PMO report to the department or to the CA-PMO executive management?

Engaged CA-PMO resources report to the department project sponsor. They may also share status information with the CA-PMO executive staff to assist the CA-PMO management in anticipating additional resource needs, and for providing council and strategy direction in complex situations.

Yes, non-technology projects and resources may be a CA-PMO service offering in the long-term (3-5 years). However, in the short-term (1-3 years), the CA-PMO service offerings are in areas related to information technology.

If a department is not satisfied with the resources assigned by CA-PMO, what alternatives do they have?

The department can review the performance of assigned CA-PMO resources at any time during the engagement period. At the start of an engagement, the department participates in the selection of the CA-PMO resources. If, during the engagement, the department is unsatisfied with the performance of assigned resources, alternatives can be pursued which may include CA-PMO providing additional training, and/or replacing or augmenting resources.

Will the CA-PMO resources be based at the department 100% or will they be at the site on an as-needed basis?

In most cases, the CA-PMO resources are based at the department site full-time (100%) for the duration of the engagement.

If a state department hires the CA-PMO services, do they still need to engage Project Approvals and Oversight (PAO) from the CDT?

Yes, for every reportable project, PAO engagement is a separate and distinct requirement, unrelated to a decision to engage the CA-PMO. The CA-PMO provides project management as a service without oversight authority. PAO is the State’s information technology oversight body, and to that end monitors state department project activities irrespective to CA-PMO’s engagement on a project.

What is the likelihood that PAO will start imposing conditions of engaging the CA-PMO services for project approval, for example: Stage 1 – Business Analysis, Stage 2 – Alternative Analysis, etc.?

The CA-PMO has no authority over the actions of the State’s information technology oversight body, PAO. As such, the CA-PMO cannot comment on the likelihood of conditions that PAO may impose.

How can State departments be sure that by engaging the CA-PMO, they are not bringing on a control agency insider?

The CA-PMO’s goal is to improve successful project outcomes by providing exceptional project management services through qualified, competent project resources. The CA-PMO resources work as part of the client department’s team and will report to the project sponsor. Since the CA-PMO does not have any control agency authority, the CA-PMO is subject to all control agency policies and procedures, just like client department staff. Similarly, PAO will oversee the CA-PMO’s performance related to project scope, schedule, and cost, just as it would oversee the performance of the client department staff in executing reportable aspects of a project.

Subscriptions to this service are available and can be referenced in the CDT Rate Schedule.

Project Management Services

Full-time resources dedicated to the project

Billing is monthly per Project Manager (IT) classification

Rate is based on the complexity of the project

Service Code

Service Description

Unit of Measurement

Rate

Notes

G245

Consulting Services

Hour

$130.00

H302

Project Manager (IT) Low Complexity

Project Manager/Month

$15,420.00

H303

Project Manager (IT) Medium Complexity

Project Manager/Month

$16,496.00

H304

Project Manager (IT) High Complexity

Project Manager/Month

$17,572.00

Consulting Services

Expert consultant(s) provided on a short-term basis

Billing is hourly

Rate is based on the classification of the consultant

The CDT Account Lead will assist customers with opening a Service Request. Services are billed directly through the customer’s monthly invoice and payment for these services are processed via direct transfer. Customers may also contact the CA-PMO at (916) 873-7281 or pmo@state.ca.gov for assistance.

To request CA-PMO services, submit a Service Request and choose “California PMO” under the consulting type drop down list. Request Service Now

In addition to Project Managers, the CA-PMO can provide one or more skilled practitioners to fully staff or augment a project team in the areas of:

Business Analysis

Business Process Re-engineering

Contract Management

Data Management

Governance

Organizational Change Management

Quality

Risk/Issue Management

Scheduling

Technical Architecture

Testing

Requirements

Vendor Management

The CA-PMO transition team can work with customer departments to discuss resource availability and develop planning estimates for CA-PMO services.